Over-the-Rhine's
Emanuel Community Center is repositioning itself as a community connector, and it's bringing in a high-profile speaker to help make that happen.
On, May 11 at Memorial Hall, Emanuel and
SmartMoney will present
Michelle Singletary, a syndicated business and finance columnist for the
Washington Post and a frequent contributor to
National Public Radio, and author of two books.
Singletary
will be speaking on the economy and will take questions on what
recovery could look like for the Greater Cincinnati region. Emanuel is
soliciting further topics for Singletary through a
survey on its home page.
Karyl Cunningham, CEO of Emanuel, says that the event fits the
non-profit's mission of bringing disparate groups together through
shared experiences.
"Michelle Singletary's appearance is an
opportunity to bring residents and businesses of the community as well
as those residents and businesses located in the central business
district in coming together and hearing a national figure address an
issue that affects us all, no matter what our age, our socioeconomic
background, or our culture," she says.
Emanuel's new mission and
vision involves getting new and long-time Over-the-Rhine residents
talking, exposing new people to the neighborhood, creating friendships,
and having fun.
They have recently launched Jazzercise and salsa
classes, which have drawn people from a wide range of socioeconomic and
racial backgrounds.
"We envision ourselves as a community
connector in creating a cohesive community by providing education and
shared neighborhood experiences that connect all residents of
Over-the-Rhine," Cunningham says. "Emanuel is a community center and a
community center's job is to engage people by bringing them together,
whether it is participation in a book club, a meet-and-greet the artist
session, an author book presentation, a place where community and
business meetings take place, a place where workshops, jazz sets, et
cetera take place."
Cunningham says that they're trying to differentiate themselves from the numerous non-profits operating in the neighborhood.
"Emanuel
Community Center is not a social service," she says. "In its history
of 138 years, it has certainly served in that social service capacity,
but as the neighborhood has changed, Emanuel had to realign itself with
those changes."
Writer:
Kevin LeMasterSource: Karyl Cunningham, CEO, Emanuel Community Center